In brief
- Etherex, a new decentralized exchange on Linea, aims to fulfill the original promise of Ethereum DEX.
- The DEX is designed to be completely user-aligned, providing all trading fees and incentives back to locked token holders.
- It ultimately could attract capital from major ETH holders and institutions by offering “superior yield.”
Newly launched crypto exchange Etherex aims to be home to all of Linea’s Ethereum capital, building on the promise of Ethereum’s decentralized network by committing to a full incentive alignment with its users.
Etherex—which gets its name from the 2014 Ethereum decentralized exchange, or DEX, idea called “EtherEX”—soft-launched on Monday, preceding the Tuesday announcement from its network and partner Linea that details the Ethereum layer-2’s token plans and alignment with Ethereum mainnet.
(Disclaimer: Linea is a product of Consensys, one of 22 investors in an editorially independent Decrypt.)
“Etherex was first imagined in 2014—when decentralized exchanges were still a dream. Since then, we’ve seen pioneers like Uniswap, Curve, and Aerodrome shape the DeFi landscape,” pseudonymous Etherex co-founder North told Decrypt.
“But Etherex is built around Ethereum’s original, uncompromising vision: decentralized infrastructure with full user alignment and greater individual flexibility. Only now, with tools like Linea and zkEVMs, can we finally realize that vision without compromise.”
According to the Etherex co-founder, that alignment is built into the core structure of the platform, which differs slightly from other DEXs, operating instead as a “metaDEX.”
“A metaDEX solves the DEX trilemma,” Head of Linea Declan Fox told Decrypt before the Etherex launch, describing the misalignment present between liquidity providers, traders, and token holders with some other decentralized exchanges.
“When you look at a Uniswap model, for example, there’s no obvious value to token holders. And so a metaDEX essentially solves that DEX trilemma by trading fees going to LPs, and obviously token holders as well.”
For Etherex, 100% of fees and incentives go to token holders, and contributors only receive locked tokens.
“There are no insider unlocks, no early exits, and no value extraction,” said North.
The alignment between users, the protocol, and the network is critical to the success of Etherex moving forward, and is exactly how the platform intends to draw in capital as hopeful inflows arrive to Linea.
Linea will offer native yield on bridged capital while benefitting ETH and LINEA with deflationary burns in its attempt to lure funds to the network which has ambitions to become “the chain for ETH capital,” according to Fox.
“The upcoming LINEA token generation event is one of the most anticipated events in crypto,” said North. “It will bring a surge of liquidity and attention to Linea as people re-discover what drew them to Linea in the first place.”
If that surge comes, then North said Etherex’s role will be to become “the rails” for that capital, offering “sticky, sustainable, and net-positive” yield along with “infrastructure that lets users swap and earn—not just speculate and exit.”
These benefits, North said, could ultimately lead to Etherex becoming home to capital for institutions like SharpLink Gaming—a leading Ethereum treasury company and member of the Linea Consortium, which will steward distribution of LINEA tokens—who could utilize Etherex liquidity pools and lending markets to “generate superior returns for their stakeholders.”
“As ETH flows in, Etherex will stand at the center—helping turn liquidity into long-term economic value,” they said.
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